Uncategorised - Gold Coast Health & Knowledge Precinct

LuminaX accelerates technology for patients and healthcare workers

As COVID-19 accelerates the digital health revolution, the inaugural LuminaX health tech accelerator program, delivered by Cohort Innovation Space to support 15 ambitious founders with 10 start-up businesses, could not have been better timed to ride a wave of health and tech sector interest and growing consumer demand.

Running an intensive in-person program over 14 weeks during a pandemic, was no mean feat in itself!

Patients and hard-working healthcare workers were front and centre, as the 10 LuminaX teams made their passionate pitches to solve health problems and potentially save lives during an upbeat demo-day event, with hearing impaired founder Elliot Miller taking out top prize for his gamified auditory training program that has the potential to assist 430 million hearing-impaired people worldwide.

Drawing on his own experience after receiving a Cochlear hearing implant, Elliot realised that this amazing device and Australian innovation success, was just the start of his hearing journey – he needed to train his brain to adapt to an auditory world, and existing training programs were simply inadequate. Hearoes was born.

“Receiving the implant was like being given a car, but without ever having driven a car before, let alone having a driver’s license,” Elliot told the audience.

With a Bachelor’s degree in Games Design and the support of clinicians, Elliot has brought a fellow designer onboard and their initial gamified and modular product has already attracted 1,000 active consumer users in a month, while almost 50 clinical users have also signed on. Queensland Health has supported the proof-of-concept, purchasing 25 program licenses for $92,000, ahead of a $500,000 seed funding round.

Health and economic costs from hearing loss are estimated at $41b per annum in Australia alone and the program is proving to be a universal solution that cuts across languages and can help people with different types of hearing loss. The two-pronged (B2C and B2B) business model targets both end-users and the healthcare industry, with a combined annual revenue forecast of $101m by 2026.

“We’re already building a world where people with hearing loss can achieve their full potential,” Elliott enthused.

Cohort and CoSpaces CEO Ben Howe said the accelerator’s success was built on the wealth of expertise they were able to bring together from across the Precinct to assist the start-ups with 400 hours of coaching, with the 30 mentors representing the brightest industry and clinical minds, including eight clinicians from Gold Coast Health.

Health is a hard industry in which to innovate, so it is has been great to see teams who are not only motivated to solve big problems and build great businesses, but who genuinely care about helping others in need.

From an acute care medical research data program, to an online platform preparing children to cope with medical procedures, programs to enhance medical and healthcare training, and an online health and wellness program for those with disabilities, the solutions developed by the ten teams have already attracted almost $1m in funding and seen 8 new jobs added across the group during the accelerator period.

Taylor Hobbs founder of Comfort Quest took out the LuminaX AI Prize for his platform that aims to take the anxiety out of medical procedures and hospital admissions and which has already attracted partnerships with the Queensland Children’s Hospital and the Meg Foundation.

Queensland Minister for the Environment, Great Barrier Reef, Science and Youth Affairs, Meaghan Scanlon MP, with the female founding team members

The other participants were:

Able Digital Wellness – an online community and digital wellness platform designed to improve the lives and health of those living with a disability.
Beyond the Clinic – A two-sided marketplace that empowers patients to take their health into their own hands, whilst providing doctors with data to analyse patient outcomes.
Datarwe – An acute care medical research data platform, enabling medical researchers to develop next-generation artificial intelligence clinical diagnostic tools and technologies.
Edify Medical – A new digital ecosystem designed to break down the barriers of language, cost, and access to information that creates healthcare inequality across the globe.
Virtual Psychologist – A psychology and counselling business that delivers text-based mental health services by qualified professional staff through a global IT platform.
Bundle of Rays – Immersive learning tools such as VR and AR to deliver education and training within the health care space.
Oncana – An integrated digital health and wellness experience that bridges the gap between treatment and care for people living with and beyond cancer.
Fwards – A digital platform that provides clinical nurses the tools to connect, reflect and grow together, aiming to improve burnout and turnover within the nursing sector

LuminaX was delivered in partnership with the Queensland AI Hub and IntelliHQ and with the support of the Queensland and Australian governments. Applications for the next program will open in January 2022.

Filed Under: Research, STUDY, TECHNOLOGY, Uncategorised Tagged With: AI, Datarwe, Griffith University, healthcare

Data partnership supports AI Hub for lifesaving healthcare

Dr Kelvin Ross, Chief Technology Officer Datarwe, with Dr Brent Richards, Board Advisor and Director of Medical Innovation, Gold Coast Health

The Gold Coast is emerging as a hub for AI in health – setting the scene for disrupting healthcare globally by enabling preventative medicine and personalising treatment, while significantly lowering costs.

As Griffith University and Precinct-based data-driven technology company Datarwe sign a major new partnership that will securely utilise valuable data to help some of the sickest patients while driving healthcare transformation, we catch up with Datarwe CEO Steve Woodyatt to explore the future possibilities.

The exciting partnership between Griffith and Datarwe will see the university appoint a new Chair in Digital Health and offer five PhD research scholarships to support potentially life-saving research as part of a five-year collaboration, which is supported through a $1.5m Advance Queensland grant to Datarwe.

And it’s just the beginning, according to Steve Woodyatt.

“The cost of healthcare is becoming unsustainable – there needs to be a major change in how we deliver and resource it,” Mr Woodyatt says.

We see an AI-inspired healthcare revolution.”

Research under the partnership will seek to help patients recover from severe injuries and infectious diseases and better manage treatments such as the use of antibiotics, as well as helping hospitals to optimise care through anticipating the right resources at the right time and implementing digital health solutions to personalise patient care.

The collaboration aims to build a world-leading Clinical Data Nexus (CDN), using de-identified patient data from intensive care units (ICU’s), and applying AI and machine learning to help researchers develop critical new predictive and diagnostic tools.

The Datarwe CEO says the partnership will deliver health and commercial benefits, with the goal of translating research into innovative digital health products that can be deployed in healthcare in Australia and overseas.

“What we have is a wealth of data – millions of data points from intensive monitoring of thousands of patients in acute care which requires expert ‘cleaning’ and ‘enriching’ by our team of data scientists so that it is ready to be used for research and development,” Mr Woodyatt says.

“We are not about replacing clinicians but assisting them to make informed decisions at the patient’s bedside. These data-enabled innovations will build upon the talent and expertise in our hospitals giving patients more personalised medical care.

Griffith University Pro Vice Chancellor Sciences, Professor Andrew Smith, says specialist data scientists at the University and Datarwe will come together with Griffith health researchers and clinicians, to maximise the value of the real-world data.

“This data is a rich resource that we can apply in many beneficial ways,” Professor Smith says.

“Our PhD research projects will be targeted to a range of outcomes; from improving recovery for patients with traumatic brain injuries, to better managing ICU resources in infectious diseases outbreaks, helping to predict risks of bacterial infection, and empowering clinical decision-making using medical data processing.

“Our broad research, under the direction of a new Chair in Digital Health, who will be an industry-focused academic and leader in the field, will cover the development of acute, community and population digital health systems that embrace genomics and also aim to personalise care through safe and reliable medical devices and the Internet of Things (IoT).

“Important issues of governance, policy, privacy, security and ethics will also be explored.”

The collaboration cements existing ties between Griffith and Datarwe, with the data lab already employing three PhD graduates, including Partnerships Manager Dr Stephanie Chaousis, who also runs health-focused programs for the Queensland AI Hub, and data scientist Dr Tina Nguyen, who has a PhD in Machine Learning.

“There are many current and increasing job opportunities in Data Science and at the same time there are so many resources out there for us to improve our data science skills,” Dr Nguyen says.

“This is one of the main reasons I chose this career and the incredible path it offers, and I love the Gold Coast and appreciate all the new opportunities that this health and innovation hub brings.”

With Griffith University recently ranked No 17 in the world AI Research Index, the highest ranking for a Queensland university, the new partnership is expected to strengthen the appeal of popular courses in the rapidly-growing field.

Globally, the digital health market is predicted to reach more than $660 billion in 2025.

Steve Woodyatt says the goal is harnessing the value of data hospitals already have to both improve patient outcomes and save costs.

“It costs $6,000 per day to have a patient in acute care, with a lot of data collected to directly guide their care – we need to leverage this retrospective data for secondary uses, from decision support tools to precise therapies,” he says.

“There is an ethical imperative to maximise health outcomes.

Through this partnership, and our close links with the Gold Coast University Hospital and other AI companies also locating into the GCHKP, we are well on our way to becoming a world-class hub for digital health.”

Datarwe is established as a public-private partnership with members including Amazon Web Services, KJR, and TechConnect, in partnership with the Queensland Government and Queensland Health.

Filed Under: Uncategorised Tagged With: AI, artificial intelligence, Griffith University, Institute for Glycomics, Institute for Integrated and Intelligent Systems

AI whiz takes super skills from Gold Coast to United States on major scholarship

Joshua Russell (centre) with Assoc Professor Alan Liew (left) and Professor Johnson Mak

Griffith University Bachelor of Computer Science graduate Joshua Russell has earned a perfect GPA and a ticket to the United States on a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship.

Here in the Precinct we’re hoping the Gold Coast-based former Kings Christian College student will return home with even more smarts than he leaves with in the burgeoning field of AI, with a specific focus on biologically-inspired artificial intelligence and the myriad of biomedical applications.

We caught up with Joshua to talk about the highlight of his undergraduate studies – a research project to use machine learning to shorten the time for creating 3D models of pathogen particles, to assist researchers in drug and vaccine discovery.

And we discovered his pathway to success, including a passion for gaming, and his plans for the future.

Joshua with Griffith University Vice Chancellor and President Professor Carolyn Evans, who is a former Fulbright Scholar

From biomedical science, to professional gaming, to AI

Joshua began university life enrolled in biomedical science, and the field remains a strong area of interest, even after data science and all things AI have become his career calling.

On the way to blitzing a Bachelor of Computer Science, the 21-year-old took time out from study to pursue another passion – professional gaming – taking his online gaming talents into the emerging arena of big-time E-sports in Sydney.

“It was a good experience and for me it was all about problem solving, and learning that through dedication you could become exceptional at anything,” explains Joshua, who found the same immersive and challenging opportunity in a healthy obsession with chess.

Griffith’s innovative new offerings in data science and AI were ideal and Joshua quickly flourished on his return to academic study under the mentorship of Associate Professor Alan Liew, who organised an ‘amazing opportunity’ to work with Professor Johnson Mak from the Institute for Glycomics.

“This was such a great project working to help speed up research into gaining a better understanding of the biological particles that cause disease and make up our world,” explains Joshua.

“We use a technique called Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to make a 3D model of biological particles and generally it is a very time-consuming exercise in the lab to collect sufficient images to create the models.

I was able to create an algorithm that effectively reduces the ‘noise’ in the picture information, so that only around half as many images are required to create a clear and accurate model. My work was a proof of concept, showing that it may be possible to significantly reduce the time required for imaging these biological particles whilst maintaining the structural information of the 3D models.”

As an undergraduate student, Joshua was inspired by how well he was integrated into research team activities.

“I was able to go to lab meetings and get involved in professional discussions, it was a really enjoyable experience.”

3D model illustration of a HIV virion (particle). Source.

Biologically-Inspired AI

Joshua has applied to a number of US universities to undertake his Fulbright Future Scholarship (funded by The Kinghorn Foundation) and his study location and research supervisor will provide specific direction to his research path, however he believes that biologically-inspired machine learning will be the future.

“The human brain is the best example of intelligence we have. I believe there is much to learn from the brain in relation to how to design efficient and more general AI algorithms. This is an exciting frontier within the AI community, and I believe it will bring us closer to an understanding of intelligence and how to design intelligent machines.”

Read about Griffith University’s four Fulbright Scholars in 2020.